Hanson, Ty

This Think College Transition Student Profile features Morgan, a dual enrollment student at Holyoke Community College who went on to transfer to Westfield State University. Morgan developed and used self-determination skills to self-direct her transition experience with the support of her college advisors, school transition specialist, educational coaches, peer mentor, and family. This profile highlights the positive outcomes that can be achieved from collaborative planning and fading supports.

This college planning timeline was created by the Think College Transition team to help teachers, families, and students prepare for college. It includes tasks that should be considered throughout high school, as well as for specific grade levels.

This is the first issue of Think College Transition Student Profiles. This publication tells the story of Rachel, a student at Holyoke Community College in Massachusetts. Rachel and her team did some person-centered planning to determine what Rachel’s goals were, and then the Rachel worked closely with an academic advisor to be sure her goals were met. This profile highlights the positive results that can come from collaborative planning and supports between college, local school district, and service providers.

Los estudiantes que se preparan para ingresar a la universidad necesitan planificar las formas en que la educación superior será diferente de la escuela secundaria. Estas diferencias incluyen mayores expectativas académicas, mayor independencia y nuevos entornos sociales. Una diferencia clave es que los estudiantes deben defenderse a sí mismos en la educación postsecundaria. En la escuela secundaria, los estudiantes suelen depender de sus padres, familiares y maestros para obtener los servicios que necesitan.

College is an ideal setting to develop and expand a person’s social network. Using strategies that maximize social opportunities centered around shared interests and common experiences can often lead to the development of authentic friendships and increased campus membership. Educational coaches are in an ideal position to recognize opportunities for social engagement and to support and encourage students to develop social networks and new friendships. A checklist for educational coaches in included in this publication.

This Insight Brief #35 provides an overview of academic advising strategies to support dually enrolled students with intellectual disability (ID) in higher education while addressing some advising challenges. Effectively advising students with ID involves a comprehensive understanding of the student’s goals, preferences, strengths, and interests, as well as the student’s disability. It also requires recognition of some institutional obstacles that may impact student access to desired classes.

The Think College Transition (TCT) project is an inclusive dual-enrollment transition model designed to improve post-school outcomes for students aged 18-22 years who have intellectual disability and autism. The key feature of this model is assisting students to be involved with college classes, work experiences, and social networking opportunities on a college campus with their same-age peers, rather than having typical transition services in a high school.

In this Think College Stories publication, Scott shares his experiences at college where he developed his skills as an anime artist.

Think College Insight Brief #20 offers tips for effective communication with key partners when working to establish an inclusive dual enrollment program on a college campus.

Think College Insight Brief #4 provides an overview of the supported education model and some of the challenges associated with using educational coaches in college. Explains how to use the Student/Coach Agreement Form.